Brian Matusz evens his record at 2-2.

Matusz was pitching great until the 6th inning came along. He gave up a single, struck out a batter, gave up a double, and then a homerun knocked him out of the game. He pitched better than his line indicates: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 7 K, but he didn’t walk a batter and his strikeout rate is sitting at 9.64 which is excellent. If he can keep it around that mark his ERA will drop considerably. Kam Mickolio came in for Matusz and continues to impress. He pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless baseball, giving up a single and striking out 2 batters. Danys Baez came in for the 8th and struck out a batter, but that was the only out he would record before loading the bases. Ty Wiggington made an error, along with 2 singles. Mark Hendrickson came in and got a groundout, but it scored a run and moved the runners up. They scored when the next batter hit a single. Jim Johnson came in and got out of the inning and also pitched a scoreless 9th to earn his 5th save.

The Orioles got their first run in the 5th, when Felix Pie led off with a single, moved to third on a Brian Roberts single, and scored on a Cesar Izturis ground out. In the next inning, Roberts hit a grand slam to give the Orioles the lead after Nolan Reimold reached on an error, Ty Wiggington walked, and Pie walked. Then in the 7th inning, back to back walks to Luke Scott and Nick Markakis opened the inning. The next batter was Reimold, who crushed his 11th homerun of the season, putting the Orioles up for good. Scott and Markakis each also had 2 singles in the game. Michael Aubrey hit a double, the first of his major league career.

Player of the game: Brian Roberts (2-5, R, 4 RBI, HR (12) (.292 AVG))

Its off to Chicago, where Jeremy Guthrie (7-12, 5.66) tries to prove hes still the ace of the staff. Maryland native Gavin Floyd (10-7, 3.94) goes for the White Sox.

Chris Tillman loses his first game to even up his record.

The homerun ruled the day in Tampa Bay last night. The Orioles only run came on a Brian Roberts homerun in the 8th. He also had a double in the game. Nolan Reimold and Melvin Mora had doubles, Felix Pie had a single, and Matt Wieters had 2 singles and a walk. Nick Markakis saw his on base streak come to an end. The Luke Scott at first base experiment isn’t off to a great start. He needs to learn that when a ball is off line, its ok to take your foot off the bag to go get it.

On the other side of things, all of the Rays runs came on homeruns as well. They had 3 solo shots, all off Chris Tillman. Thats already the second game of his career, spanning 5 starts, that hes given up 3 homeruns. Each one came on a first pitch fastball right down the middle. He’ll have to adjust, maybe learn from Matusz and start some at bats with his curve ball or changeup. But other than the homers, Tillman looked really good last night. He has the stuff to pitch at the top of a rotation, theres no doubt. He went 6 innings giving up 3 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks, striking out 3. Cla Meredith pitched a scoreless 7th and Chris Ray a scoreless 8th to keep the Rays at three, but the bats came up short.

Player of the game: Brian Roberts (2-4, R, RBI, double (46), HR (11) (.291 AVG))

Its Brian Matusz’ (1-2, 6.75) turn to face the Rays for the first time tonight. He and the Orioles hitters will go up against Jake Shields (7-9, 3.88).

Jason Berken falls to 2-11 on the year.

Berken is just in over his head as a starter in the major leagues. Hes much too hittable. He gave up 5 runs on 11 hits (3 of which were homeruns) over 5.2 innings. Hes 9 games under .500 and his ERA is sitting at 6.72. With all the injuries, they’ll keep throwing him out there and hope something clicks. Mark Hendrickson replaced Berken and got out of the 6th, but gave up a walk and a double to start the 7th. With runners on second and third and no outs, Kam Mickolio came into the game. And he was impressive. He struck out Evan Longoria, intentionally walked Carlos Pena, struck out Pat Burrell, and got Gregg Zaun to pop out. He struck out 2 more in the 8th in another scoreless inning. I’m predicting that Mickolio is the Oriole’s closer by Opening Day 2011.

The Orioles got on the board in the top of the 3rd. Adam Jones hit an RBI single and Nolan Reimold did the same. After a Luke Scott single in the 8th, Matt Wieters hit his 4th homerun of his career to give us two more runs. Thats all we would get. Nick Markakis went 3-4 with 3 singles, a walk, and a stolen base. Brian Roberts walked twice, hit a single, and stole a base himself. Jones and Reimold each added a double to go along with their RBI singles. Scott walked twice and had the single to set up Wieter’s blast. Ty Wiggington singled in 4 at bats and Michael Aubrey had a pinch hit single in his first career at bat as an Oriole. He’ll get the start at first base tonight.

Player of the game: Kam Mickolio (2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, BB, 4 K (0.00 ERA))

Chris Tillman (1-0, 4.88) makes the 5th start of his career against Jeff Niemann (10-5, 3.86), who has been a pleasant surprise for the Rays.

David Hernandez had his record fall to 4-5.

The pitching has been atrocious for this series. Even in the game we won, we gave up 6 runs. This time it was Hernandez turn to struggle. He gave up 3 homeruns in the game last night. He threw too many pitches, only able to go 5.1 innings. He gave up 5 runs on 7 hits and 4 walks. This was the second time this very good Angels lineup has seen him though, and he pitched very well against them the last time. Cla Meredith came in and didn’t help matters. In 1.1 innings he gave up 3 runs, which all came on one swing of the bat by Vlad Guerrero, on 2 walks and a homer. The rejuvenated Chris Ray pitched 1.1 perfect innings with a strikeout and Brian Bass was able to get through the 9th without giving up a run.

The O’s got on the board right away with back to back singles by Brian Roberts and Cesar Izturis, followed by an RBI ground out by Adam Jones. An RBI double by Nick Markakis tied the game at 2 in the 3rd. After the Angels scored 3 runs in the top of the 6th, the O’s got one back in the bottom when Markakis hit a homerun to lead off the inning. The last 2 runs came in the 9th when Melvin Mora actually hit a ball out of the yard, his 4th. Izturis had 3 hits in the game including a double. Luke Scott also had a double to go along with a walk and Nolan Reimold didn’t start the game, but he came in later and hit the first triple of his major league career.

Player of the game: Nick Markakis (2-4, R, 2 RBI, double (39), HR (15) (.305 AVG))

The Orioles will fly down to Tampa Bay to take on the Rays tonight. Jason Berken (2-10, 6.63) faces the highly touted David Price (5-5, 5.13).